Traction control in a vehicle serves to reduce the amount of slippage (e.g., loss of traction) that occurs between the wheels of the vehicle and the surface on which the vehicle is traveling. This may be accomplished by reducing the torque delivered to the wheels and/or by applying a braking force to the wheels. While traction control improves the safety of the vehicle in many circumstances, there are situations where traction control is undesirable. For example, when the vehicle is stuck in a rut that provides little traction (e.g., formed of snow, mud, sand, or another deformable material), traction control can undermine efforts to spin the wheels in alternating directions to rock the vehicle until it becomes free of the rut.